We are a small Episcopal Church on the banks of the Rappahannock in Port Royal, Virginia. We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional land of the first people of Port Royal, the Nandtaughtacund, and we respect and honor with gratitude the land itself, the legacy of the ancestors, and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do.

2024 Sun June 16

Sermon, June 16, 2024, Pentecost 4, “Seeds”

Mark 4:26-34, 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 14-17

When Jesus appears in Galilee at the beginning of Mark’s gospel, proclaiming the Good News of God, the first thing Jesus says is this. “The time if fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near.”  In his ministry Jesus talked a lot about the kingdom of God, trying to help those who would listen understand that God’s kingdom was like no earthly kingdom that they had ever known.  Instead, it was something much more astounding and wonderful.  Many of the parables of Jesus are about the kingdom of God, including the two that we just heard read from today’s gospel. 

In today’s gospel from Mark, Chapter 4, Jesus is teaching beside the sea, and there’s such a big crowd around him that he gets into a boat to teach.  During this teaching, Jesus tells parables.  

Everyone gets to hear the parables, but Jesus doesn’t explain the meanings of his parables to the crowd.  He saves the explanations for the insiders, his disciples and followers.  

Mark doesn’t record the explanation that Jesus must have shared about these two parables about the kingdom of God.  As Jesus’ followers, we get to prayerfully draw our own conclusions about what these parables might mean.   So let’s dive in and hope that God will help us out.    

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Remembering St. Barnabas, June 12


St. Barnabus Curing the Poor – Paolo Veronese.

Collect for his day -"Grant, O God, that we may follow the example of your faithful servant Barnabas, who, seeking not his own renown but the well­being of your Church, gave generously of his life and substance for the relief of the poor and the spread of the Gospel; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen."

Who is St. Barnabus and why do we celebrate a feast day for him ?

Three reasons why Barnabas is a famous saint:

1. He was one of the most highly respected leaders in the early church. Born on the island of Cyprus (which means “copper” because of the mines there), his name was Joseph, but the apostles called him Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”).

2. When Saul (as Paul was still known) appeared in Jerusalem after his conversion, he was spurned by the Christians he had persecuted. Yet when Barnabas “took him by the hand, and brought him to the Apostles”, and spoke up for him, Paul was immediately accepted (Acts 9:27).   

He was Paul’s mentor and advocate and was the leader when he and Paul were sent off on the first missionary journey. But Paul’s personality and fervor soon dominated.

Where it had been “Barnabas and Paul”, it was now “Paul and Barnabas”. (See Acts, Chapter 13.)

3. Barnabas was so vital to the spread of the Gospel that he earned the highest accolade that any Christian can receive; “. . . . he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith”. (Acts 11:24) 

Around 49, at a council in Jerusalem, St Peter helped to carry the argument of Paul and Barnabas that Gentile Christians need not be circumcised.

It is odd, therefore, to discover Barnabas and Peter siding against Paul in refusing to eat with the Gentiles (Gal 2:13). Was this a matter of personal sympathy? The last we hear of Barnabas is of his falling out with Paul over the latter’s refusal to accept John Mark as a travelling companion.

“So sharp was their disagreement, that they separated from each other; Barnabas took Mark with him, and sailed off to Cyprus.” (Acts 15:36-40)

So Barnabas passes from the written record. Tradition holds that he preached in Alexandria and Rome, before being martyred at Salamis.

Lectionary, Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, June 16, 2024

I. Theme –  The Surprising and Unexpected Revelations of God

"Mustard Tree" – Katy Jones

The lectionary readings are here  or individually: 

Old Testament – Ezekiel 17:22-24
Psalm – Psalm 92:1-4,11-14 Page 720, BCP
Epistle –2 Corinthians 5:6-10,[11-13],14-17
Gospel – Mark 4:26-34  

Today’s readings are colored by lovely shades of green, and are filled with images of growth and newness. From the cedars of Ezekiel to the palm tree of the psalm, the flourishing of human beings is part of all creation’s fruitfulness. 

In the first readings, Ezekiel gives the Israelites hope that one day God will restore their strength and Samuel sees beyond outward appearances to choose the least likely son of Jesse to anoint as king. Paul reminds his Corinthian communities that our eternal dwelling is not found here on earth but is with the lord.

In the gospel, Jesus uses two parables to describe how God’s dynamic presence—the kingdom—grows in our lives. In Jesus’ parable of the kingdom, seed (God’s word) is scattered broadly. Perhaps as he told this story, Jesus was watching a farmer hand-sow a field. The farmer does not know how the seed sprouts and grows. The process goes on while the farmer sleeps and wakes, not by any effort on the farmer’s part, but by the mystery of growth itself. “The earth produces of itself” and the harvest comes. Jesus is not trying to explain the mystery of growth. He is commanding the same kind of trust in the reality of God’s kingdom that we depend upon in the natural world. Just as we believe a seed is growing in the dark ground while we cannot see it, so we believe the kingdom is growing in our dark world.

For the spiritually perceptive, Jesus himself is the seed God has sown in the world. We believe in the divine kingdom already “planted” in Christ and trust the creative Spirit of God to bring forth the new harvest of redeemed human souls. 

The word “harvest” is also used as a biblical note of warning. The sickle is judgment. The grain was ripe when Jesus came into the world. But now the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. God’s kingdom has already sprung up in Christ, and we must decide whether or not to be among the disciples who understand his words and live by them.

God is doing something new, which is the new thing God began in creation. God is bringing the high down low and lifting up the low to be high. God is creating us anew, in a way in which we grow and live together in a way that honors God and each other, and not ourselves. The reign of God is built when we live for each other, building each other up, doing Christ’s work here on earth. The reign of God is built when we recognize that death does not have a hold on us, and that life is worth living when we live for others, not for ourselves. Everything old dies, but in Christ, everything becomes new, and life surpasses death.

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Looking into the Lectionary

By Teri McDowell Ott, Presbyterian Outlook

During a long and brutal winter, three sisters visited a community where food was scarce, the people starving. Despite this famine, the three sisters were greeted warmly, and fed generously. In gratitude for this hospitality, the three sisters gifted the people with three seeds – corn, bean, and squash – a small package that ensured the people would never go hungry again.

Robin Wall Kimmerer, a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and a scientist, shares this origin story in Braiding Sweetgrass and reflects on its spiritual and biological significance. These three seeds naturally complement each other to produce an abundance of food. She writes:

“The lessons of reciprocity are written clearly in a Three Sisters garden. Together their stems inscribe what looks to me like a blueprint for the world, a map of balance and harmony. The corn stands eight feet tall; rippling green ribbons of leaf curl away from the stem in every direction to catch the sun…The bean twines around the corn stalk, weaving itself between the leaves of corn, never interfering with their work…Spread around the feet of the corn and beans is a carpet of big broad squash leaves that intercept the light that falls among the pillars of corn… The organic symmetry of forms belongs together; the placement of every leaf, the harmony of shapes speak their message. Respect one another, support one another, bring your gift to the world and receive the gifts of others, and there will be enough for all.”

Mark’s text for this fourth Sunday after Pentecost also tells a story of seed and sower that, working together, grow into a great bush whose branches offer an abundance of gifts. The mustard seed could grow into a bush the size of a house, a great nesting place for birds who eat the seed pods that can also be ground into a powder for curries and condiments. The bushes’ leaves are also edible, eaten raw in salads or cooked as mustard greens.

Jesus’ parable reminds us that we are co-creators with God and the earth. When we respect these relationships and support one another, the kingdom of God is revealed — a place of plenty; a place where all God’s creatures can bloom, and grow and flourish.

But when we neglect these relationships and God’s blueprint of balance, all creation suffers. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote of this suffering in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”: “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” …

Father’s Day Prayer

We give thanks for fathers.

We give thanks for those fathers who have striven to balance the demands of work, marriage, and children with an honest awareness of both joy and sacrifice. We give thanks for those fathers who, lacking a good model for a father, have worked to become good fathers.

We give thanks for those fathers who by their own account were not always there for their children, but who continue to offer those children, now grown, their love and support. We pray for those fathers who have been wounded by the neglect and hostility of their children.

We give thanks for those fathers who, despite divorce, have remained in their children’s lives. We give thanks for those fathers who have adopted children, and whose love and support has offered healing.

We give thanks for those fathers who, as stepfathers, freely choose the obligation of fatherhood and have earned their stepchildren’s love and respect. We give thanks for those fathers who have lost children to death, and who, in spite of their grief, continue to hold those children in their hearts.

We give thanks for those men who have no children, but cherish the next generation as if they were their own. We give thanks for those men who have ‘fathered’ us in their roles as mentors and guides.

We give thanks for those men who are about to become fathers; may they openly delight in their children. And we give thanks for those fathers who have died, but who live on in our memory and whose love continues to nurture us.

We give thanks for fathers.

Amen
 

Adapted from a prayer by Kirk Loadman-Copeland

What is Juneteenth and Why Do We Celebrate on June 19?

Because the Southern Confederacy viewed themselves as an independent nation, the Emancipation Proclamation did not immediately free all of the enslaved population because the Rebel governments would not enforce Lincoln’s proclamation. Texas became a stronghold of Confederate influence in the latter years of the Civil War as the slaveholding population ‘refugeed’ their slave property by migrating to Texas.

Consequently, more than 50,000 enslaved individuals were relocated to Texas, effectively prolonging slavery in a region far from the Civil War’s bloodshed, and out of the reach of freedom—the United States Army. Only after the Union army forced the surrender of Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith at Galveston on June 2, 1865, would the emancipation of slaves in Texas be addressed and freedom granted. On June 19, 250,000 enslaved people were freed.

The issuing of General Order No. 3 on June 19, 1865, marked an official date of emancipation for the enslaved population. Nonetheless, those affected faced numerous barriers to their freedoms. General Order No. 3 stipulated that former slaves remain at their present homes, were barred from joining the military, and would not be supported in ‘idleness.’ Essentially, the formerly enslaved were granted nothing beyond the title of emancipation. The official end of slavery in the United States came with the ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865.

After becoming emancipated, many former slaves left Texas in great numbers. Most members of this exodus had the goal of reuniting with lost family members and paving a path to success in postbellum America. This widespread migration of former slaves after June 19 became known as ‘the Scatter.’

World Refugee Day, June 20

“Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” – Hebrews 13:2

World Refugee Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2000 to celebrate the strength and courage of those around the world who have been forced to flee their home country to escape prosecution or conflict.   World Refugee Day helps to raise awareness about the growing refugee crisis in places like Syria and Central Africa and to focus on ways to improve the lives of refugees. 

“ Refugee” is a legal term used to define an individual who:

“…owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.” (1951 Geneva Refugee Convention.) 

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Why we should welcome refugees ?

Business Insider has written.."Immigrants can strengthen nations. A UK study found migrants boosted the British economy, deepened its labor force, raised wages of native workers, and boosted tax revenues.

"An influx of refugees into Denmark in the 1980s created increased competition for jobs, which encouraged native Danish workers to boost their skill sets. A German economist said immigration would quickly boost economic output in the EU (Euractiv).

"Many thriving entrepreneurs are also immigrants, such as Elon Musk of Tesla, Google’s Sergey Brin, and WhatsApp’s Jan Koum. Oh, and Steve Jobs’ dad was a Syrian immigrant."  Enterpreneur Magazine has said the same thing. Plus refugees bring their own skillset – "By bringing their unique perspectives and skill sets to a new country, refugees are more than capable of finding new ways of doing business." Many are not trying to take jobs but create jobs.

Moreover throughout the Bible there are numerous statements from the Old to the New Testament on welcoming the stranger."Deuteronomy 10: "You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." The in Hebrews 13: "Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it."